Page 11 - IAV Digital Magazine #602

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Fatal Blunder: Patient, 70, Bled to Death After Surgeon ‘Mistakenly’ Removed Liver Instead of Spleen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6XbCO2SjBA
By:Todd Betzold
An Alabama man reportedly died last month when a hospi- tal in Florida mistak- enly removed his liver instead of his spleen during
surgery, RadarOnline. com can reveal.
William Bryan, 70, and his wife were at their rental property in
Okaloosa County, Florida, when Bryan suffered pain in his left side, the Miami Herald reported.
The couple went to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast, where doctors urged Bryan to have surgery to avoid
serious health compli- cations, according to Joe Zarzour, the
attorney representing Bryan’s widow.
On Aug. 21, Bryan was scheduled to undergo a laparo- scopic splenectomy, according to Zarzour.
However, Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky is accused of acciden- tally removing his liver during the proce- dure.
In doing so, Shaknovsky severed a major artery, which led to Bryan’s sudden blood loss and death, officials said.
While Shaknovsky allegedly listed Bryan’s organ as a spleen, Zarzour said Dr. Robert Blanchard, a surgical pathologist at the hospital, deter- mined it was a liver.
In his report, Blanchard described the organ as a “grossly identifiable” liver that was partially torn, authorities said.
After the surgery was done, Shaknovsky allegedly talked with Bryan’s wife, saying Bryan’s spleen was four times larger than average and had shifted to the other side of his body.
However, Zarzour said the spleen — which was not removed — had a small cyst on it, offi- cials said.
According to sources, Bryan’s widow plans on filing a lawsuit after a pre-litigation process takes place. She is seeking civil and criminal proceed- ings surrounding
her husband’s death.
“My husband died while helpless on the operating room table by Dr. Shaknovsky,” she said in a state- ment. “I don’t want anyone else to die due to his incompe- tence at a hospital that should have known or knew he had previously made drastic, life-altering surgical mistakes.”
Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast, a non-profit Catholic health care system that has 140 hospitals in the U.S., said in a statement that they "take allegations like this very seriously, and our leadership team is performing a thorough investigation into this event.”
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